My life as a dog: Adventures in RFID research

"Adam Laurie lived a few Novembers as a dog earlier this year. By duplicating the RFID tags used to identify pets in the United Kingdom and sewing it into his watch strap, Laurie, an independent security researcher, re-created his dog's ID as a hacking exercise. However, this kind of virtual animal cloning could become a serious issue as industrialized countries roll out RFID-based systems to keep track of their livestock."

An interesting article that points out some potential effects of RFID cloning on the food chain. Although some RFID tags are encased in tamperproof casings, it is noted that none use encryption and some can even be touchlessly reprogrammed. With the risk of herds being destroyed due to detection of mad cow or other diseases, a monetary incentive exists for malfeasance.

Photo: West Virginia Department of Agriculture.